Update 2019

The 2019 Update of IFLA’s Trend Report continues in the path of previous editions, sharing insights and perspectives on some of the key issues and developments that characterise the environment in which libraries operate.

Through these, it provides a basis for discussion and reflection about what library associations, libraries, and individual library and information workers are facing, and opportunities for action.

This year’s Update is based on the nine interventions made during the President’s Session at the 2019 World Library and Information Congress, which brought together professionals from around the world.

The chapters are organised into three broader trends:

Increasing uncertainty in the world we face, demanding new ways of working within our field and with government, but also a growing demand for information.

The need to take holistic approaches to deal with growing complexity – or at least awareness of complexity – in the decisions that both governments and individuals take.

New possibilities to work at scale, offering both new possibilities for the library field, but also a need to focus advocacy and engagement efforts at new levels.

This Update, along with previous editions in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and the original 2013 Trend Report all provide a foundation – and a stimulus – to thinking within our field. We therefore encourage you to take ownership of this report, and to use it in your own work.

Through this, we hope, we can as a profession be better prepared to develop the ideas and take the steps necessary not just to keep up with change, but to lead it.